Fig. 5

The utility of liquid biopsy during different stages of tumour progression. The molecular profile of the primary tumour changes as cancer progresses. New mutations and treatments can lead to intra-tumour heterogeneity. Furthermore, heterogeneity causes drug resistance and treatment failure. Liquid biopsy can aid in the detection of primary ovarian tumours (A). The prognosis of EOC patients can potentially be determined by liquid biopsy (B). Likewise, this technique can help with the detection of residual disease after primary debulking surgery and contribute to the detection of EOC recurrence (C). Physicians can potentially use liquid biopsy to uncover the molecular profile of the tumor and select the correct therapy for each patient (D). Liquid biopsy can also reflect tumour heterogeneity and predict resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy in addition to both primary and acquired resistance to PARPi (E)